Hannibal (season 1)

The first season of the American television series Hannibal premiered on April 4, 2013. The season is produced by Dino de Laurentiis Company, Living Dead Guy Productions, AXN Original Productions, and Gaumont International Television, with Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee, Katie O'Connell, Elisa Roth, Sara Colleton, David Slade, Chris Brancato, Jesse Alexander, Martha De Laurentiis, and Bryan Fuller serving as executive producers. Fuller serves as the series developer and showrunner, writing or co-writing 10 episodes of the season.

Hannibal
Season 1
Promotional poster
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes13
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseApril 4 (2013-04-04) –
June 20, 2013 (2013-06-20)
Season chronology

The series was given a 13-episode order in February 2012 and stars Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas, Hettienne Park, and Laurence Fishburne. The series is based on characters and elements appearing in Thomas Harris' novels Red Dragon (1981), Hannibal (1999), and Hannibal Rising (2006) and focuses on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist that is secretly a cannibalistic serial killer. Each episode of the season is named after an element of French cuisine.[1]

The season premiered on April 4, 2013 on NBC. The series premiere received 4.36 million viewers with a 1.6/5 ratings share in the 18–49 demographics. The season ended on June 20, 2013, with an average of 2.90 million viewers.[2] The season received extremely positive reviews, with critics praising the performances, writing, visual style and its new take on the characters. In May 2013, NBC renewed the series for a second season.[3]

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Notable guests

Episodes
See also: List of Hannibal episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
11"Apéritif"David SladeBryan FullerApril 4, 2013 (2013-04-04)1014.36[4]
FBI Special Investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers and mentally re-create their crimes with vivid detail, is drawn into the investigation of a series of missing college girls by Special Agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), who has special interest in Graham's ability. Crawford and Graham interview the parents of the latest girl to go missing, only to discover that her body has been returned to her bedroom. Graham suspects it is an apologetic gesture from the killer. Crawford, by recommendation of Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas), enlists the help of noted psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), who takes a keen interest in the case and particularly in Graham, in whom he senses a like mind. Another girl, Cassie Boyle, is found, this one mounted on top of a deer's head in an open field with her lungs removed. Graham is convinced it is the work of someone else, a negative, designed to show him the positives of the other crimes. Dr. Lecter is shown preparing himself a meal with human lungs. FBI crime scene investigator Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) finds a shred of metal from a pipe threader on the clothes of the returned girl, which leads Graham and Dr. Lecter to a construction site that employs Garrett Jacob Hobbs, who fits Graham's profile. Dr. Lecter secretly makes a phone call to Hobbs. Abigail answers and hands the phone to her father. Hannibal warns Hobbs that "they know". Lecter and Graham arrive at Hobbs's house just as Hobbs kills his wife. Graham shoots Hobbs dead, but not before Hobbs partially cuts his daughter's throat. Later, Graham and Lecter sit with the unconscious girl in her hospital room.
22"Amuse-Bouche"Michael RymerJim Danger GrayApril 11, 2013 (2013-04-11)1024.38[5]
Will Graham helps to find a murderer who uses his victims as fertilizer to grow mushrooms. Tabloid blogger Fredricka "Freddie" Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki) snoops around the crime scene and Dr. Lecter's office to write a story about Graham, which the killer uses to stay a step ahead of the investigation. Meanwhile, Graham and Dr. Lecter discuss their mutual feeling of responsibility for Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl), which leads Graham to begin opening up to the doctor. The killer is revealed to be a pharmacist who preys on diabetics and is obsessed with the similarities between the structures of fungi and the human mind: Graham intercepts and shoots him in the arm as he attempts to kidnap the unconscious Abigail Hobbs. During another session with Lecter, Graham reluctantly admits that he found killing Garrett Jacob Hobbs "just"; Lecter likens it to a feeling of being God.
33"Potage"David SladeStory by : David Fury
Teleplay by : David Fury and Chris Brancato and Bryan Fuller		April 18, 2013 (2013-04-18)1053.51[6]
Abigail Hobbs awakens from her coma. Graham suspects that Garrett Jacob Hobbs, dubbed the "Minnesota Shrike", killed eight girls, but not the one impaled on the deer's head; that, he maintains, was a victim of a copycat, who called Hobbs to warn him. Crawford harbors suspicions that Abigail was somehow complicit in her father's killing spree, despite objections from Dr. Bloom, Lecter and Graham. Lounds meets the brother of the impaled girl and reveals to him that Abigail Hobbs is out of the hospital. Lecter and Graham take Abigail to her home, where she and her neighbor Marissa are confronted by the brother of the impaled girl, Nicholas Boyle. The following day, Abigail is taken to the cabin where Marissa is found impaled on a deer's head. In her house, Abigail finds the hair of one of the murdered girls inside a pillow and inadvertently kills Boyle in a way that, according to Lecter, cannot be seen as self-defense. Lecter helps her cover-up the murder, after which Abigail admits to Lecter she knows he had made the call to her father. Lecter suggests that Abigail keep his secret in exchange for his hiding her murder.
44"Oeuf"Peter MedakJennifer SchuurApril 26, 2013 (2013-04-26) (India)
Unaired (U.S.)		104N/A
Two families are found murdered, with both mothers killed last. The only link between the families is that they both have sons who have been on the missing persons list for approximately a year. Graham concludes these "lost boys" are killing their old families to bond more closely to their new family. Graham continues his sessions with Dr. Lecter and confides that even if he finds the boys, he will never be able to give them back what they gave away: their families. He also admits to having paternal feelings toward Abigail Hobbs, which make him uncomfortable. Lecter's own interest in Abigail leads him to check her out of the hospital, against Dr. Bloom's wishes, and take her into his care. He gives her some tea made from psilocybin mushrooms to help with her traumatic dreams. Bloom helps Graham realize that the boys are under the influence of a powerful but unnamed mother figure (Molly Shannon) and uses footage from a convenience store security camera to track them to North Carolina in time to stop another young boy from murdering his family.
55"Coquilles"Guillermo NavarroStory by : Scott Nimerfro
Teleplay by : Scott Nimerfro and Bryan Fuller		April 25, 2013 (2013-04-25)1062.40[7]
A murdered couple is found in a motel room, posed in praying positions with the flesh of their backs opened and strung to the ceiling to give them the appearance of wings. Using a sample of the killer's vomit found on the nightstand, the BAU team discover several medications often used together to treat cancer, specifically brain tumors. Graham surmises the killer is transforming his victims into guardian angels to watch over him because he is afraid of dying in his sleep. Meanwhile, Crawford's wife Phyllis "Bella" (Gina Torres) becomes Dr. Lecter's new patient. She is reluctant to tell her husband that she has terminal lung cancer because he already has too much to worry about. Graham starts to suffer from episodes of sleepwalking and continues to dream about the feathered stag that has been haunting him since the Hobbs case. He confides to Dr. Lecter that the pressure of looking into killers' minds is starting to break his psyche and Lecter attempts to use this to create a wedge between Graham and Crawford. The angel maker is tracked to an old farm, but is discovered to have committed suicide and transformed himself into an angel. During the investigation, Crawford realizes the reason for his wife's distant behavior and promises to help her through her illness any way he can.
66"Entrée"Michael RymerStory by : Kai Yu Wu
Teleplay by : Kai Yu Wu and Bryan Fuller		May 2, 2013 (2013-05-02)1072.61[8]
A nurse at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane is brutally murdered by a patient, Dr. Abel Gideon (Eddie Izzard), in a manner reminiscent of the Chesapeake Ripper, who has not committed a murder in two years, the same number of years Gideon has been incarcerated. While Graham tries to discover whether Gideon truly is the Ripper, Crawford receives a phone call, apparently from the real Ripper, who plays the recorded voice of Miriam Lass (Anna Chlumsky), a trainee Crawford had consulting on the Chesapeake Ripper case two years previously when she suddenly disappeared. Bloom and Crawford make a deal with Lounds to write a story about Gideon, hoping to provoke the real Ripper to make himself visible. During a dinner with Bloom and Lecter, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Raúl Esparza), the administrator of the hospital, tells them he had suspected Gideon of being the Ripper; Lecter surmises that Chilton unintentionally planted the thought in Gideon's mind during a session, implying that, while Gideon is not the Ripper, he believes himself to be. Later, Crawford receives another phone call, which they trace to an old observatory, where they find Miriam's cell phone clutched in the hand of a severed arm. A final flashback reveals Miriam's fate: she visits Dr. Lecter to ask about an old patient, Jeremy Olmstead, whom he had come into contact with when working as an ER attendant, who has turned up as the latest Ripper victim. While Lecter excuses himself, Miriam finds one of his sketches of the Wound Man, which precisely matches the manner in which Olmstead was murdered. Lecter sneaks up on her from behind and chokes her unconscious, revealing himself as the real Chesapeake Ripper.
77"Sorbet"James FoleyJesse Alexander & Bryan FullerMay 9, 2013 (2013-05-09)1032.62[9]
The BAU is called in when a man is found in a hotel room bathtub with his kidney removed and Graham must determine whether this is the act of an organ harvester or if the Chesapeake Ripper has claimed his first victim in two years. Meanwhile, Crawford continues to be haunted by the discovery of Miriam Lass's arm. Dr. Bloom suspects that Crawford has become obsessed with catching the Ripper, and is putting Graham in danger by making him chase the Ripper. Lecter murders a medical examiner who once treated him rudely and removes his heart. When his body is found displayed on a bus, Graham becomes convinced that the latest victim was the work of the real Ripper, while the first was not. Lecter takes another four victims and harvests their organs for use in a dinner party. Through hotel security footage, the BAU team discovers that the organ harvester is a part-time paramedic, Devon Silvestri, who aspires to be a doctor. They track his ambulance in time to save the life of his latest victim, but his arrest solidifies Graham's opinion that there is only one Chesapeake Ripper, who was responsible for all of the murders except the first.
88"Fromage"Tim HunterJennifer Schuur and Bryan FullerMay 16, 2013 (2013-05-16)1082.46[10]
Lecter's patient Franklyn Froideveaux (Dan Fogler) worries that his friend Tobias Budge (Demore Barnes) may be a psychopath, but Franklyn's growing obsession with Lecter is what concerns the latter more. Graham investigates the murder of a Baltimore musician who had his throat opened and a cello neck inserted through his mouth. Graham, with Lecter's guidance, interprets this as one killer serenading another. Graham's mental stability deteriorates further when he begins having auditory hallucinations of animals in pain and when his romantic feelings for Alana Bloom are rejected. At first she responds well to Graham kissing her, but then says it would be a bad idea for them to become involved. When Franklyn confesses to Lecter that Tobias had told him he wanted to cut open someone's throat and "play them like a violin", Lecter confronts Tobias, who reveals that not only is he the murderer, but he knows that Lecter is one as well and feels they could be friends. Lecter passes on some of this information to Graham, once again putting an unknowing Graham in a dangerous situation when he goes to question him. Tobias kills two police officers who had accompanied Graham and escapes to Lecter's office, where Franklyn is having a session. Lecter kills both Franklyn and Tobias and lies to Crawford about what happened. Lecter confides to his own psychoanalyst, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson), that he believes he might have found a true friend in Graham.
99"Trou Normand"Guillermo NavarroSteve LightfootMay 23, 2013 (2013-05-23)1092.69[11]
A totem pole of human bodies ranging from freshly killed to decades old are found on a beach and while Graham is investigating the crime scene, he suddenly finds himself in Lecter's office, three and a half hours away, with no recollection of how he got there. Lecter theorizes that Graham's mind is trying to escape from having to investigate such brutal murders. Lounds convinces Abigail Hobbs to let her write a book about her and her father, which is met with grave concern from Graham and Lecter. The body of Nicholas Boyle (whom Abigail had accidentally killed) re-surfaces and with it re-emerges Crawford's suspicion that Abigail knows more than she is letting on. The freshest totem pole victim is identified as Joel Summers, who was the son of Fletcher Marshall, the oldest body on the pole, before he was adopted. The killings are traced to Lawrence Wells (Lance Henriksen), who was having an affair with Marshall's wife and killed him in a crime of passion. The rest of the killings were for his own satisfaction; knowing he'd be caught, he could "retire" to a life in prison, which would be better than any retirement home he could afford. However, Graham reveals that Summers was not Marshall's biological son, he was Wells', who unknowingly murdered his own son. Graham examines Boyle's body and deduces that he was killed by Abigail. He confronts Lecter, who reveals that he helped Abigail hide the body in order to protect her future. Graham reluctantly agrees to keep her secret so that she will not inherit her father's brutal legacy. Abigail herself reveals an even greater secret to Lecter: that she actually did, as Crawford suspected, know who her father really was and helped him to procure his victims by befriending the young girls.
1010"Buffet Froid"John DahlAndy Black & Chris Brancato and Bryan FullerMay 30, 2013 (2013-05-30)1102.40[12]
Beth LeBeau is found murdered, having drowned in her own blood as a result of her face being cut into a Glasgow smile. Graham's mental state continues to sharply decline; he loses hours at a time and when a vivid hallucination causes him to contaminate the crime scene, Lecter refers him to a neurologist, an old residency colleague, Dr. Sutcliffe (John Benjamin Hickey). An MRI reveals that Graham is suffering an advanced form of encephalitis, but Lecter pressures Sutcliffe into telling Graham that he found no neurological problems so that Lecter can continue to analyze him. Graham returns to LeBeau's house, where he is attacked by her killer, who manages to escape. She is identified as Georgia Madchen (Ellen Muth), a young woman who suffers from numerous medical conditions, including Cotard's syndrome, a delusional disorder that has her convinced she is actually dead and takes away her ability to identify people's faces. She mutilated LeBeau's (her best friend) face because she was deluded into thinking LeBeau was an untrustworthy stranger. She becomes interested in Graham after their encounter and even follows him to Dr. Sutcliffe's office. Graham reaches out to her and manages to convince her that she is alive and not alone, and Georgia is brought in for medical treatment. Lecter murders Dr. Sutcliffe but frames the kill to appear as though Georgia had murdered him while following Graham.
1111"Rôti"Guillermo NavarroSteve Lightfoot and Bryan Fuller & Scott NimerfroJune 6, 2013 (2013-06-06)1112.36[13]
Dr. Abel Gideon escapes from custody and begins targeting the psychiatrists who attempted to treat him, displaying their bodies with a Colombian necktie. While Alana Bloom is put under protective custody, Gideon kidnaps Dr. Frederick Chilton and lures Freddie Lounds into a trap, forcing her to write an article about him. Meanwhile, Graham's undiagnosed encephalitis drives his temperature up, causing severe hallucinations. Another psychiatrist is found similarly mutilated, only with his right arm amputated and Graham speculates that this is actually a message from the real Chesapeake Ripper telling them where to find Gideon. At the abandoned observatory where Miriam Lass' severed arm was found, Gideon begins surgically removing Chilton's organs with the intention of leaving a "gift basket" for the Ripper, whom Gideon is trying to lure out. While Crawford and a SWAT team hit the observatory, Graham's hallucination of the stag returns and he follows it, fortuitously intercepting Gideon, who had anticipated the SWAT team's arrival. In his delusional state, Graham takes Gideon to Lecter, who convinces Graham that he has hallucinated the encounter. When Graham has a seizure, Lecter uses the opportunity to set Gideon on Alana. Lecter manipulates Graham into pursuing him and Graham shoots at Gideon outside Alana's house before collapsing. Graham is hospitalized.
1212"Relevés"Michael RymerChris Brancato and Bryan FullerJune 13, 2013 (2013-06-13)1122.10[14]
Following an offhand comment by Graham, Hannibal leaves a comb in the chamber of Georgia Madchen, who accidentally sparks a fire inside her hyperbaric chamber and is burned to death. Angered, Graham deduces that several recent murders were all the work of a copycat patterning after recent serial murders, and that Georgia was killed because she may have remembered the face of whoever had killed Dr. Sutcliffe. Crawford, bothered by Graham's behavior and by Lecter's apparent concealment of Graham's hallucinations, discovers the pattern that shows Abigail was present during Garrett's victim selection processes. Crawford confronts Lecter's therapist, Dr. Du Maurier, and she later tells Lecter that she did not reveal the details about being attacked by a patient. After releasing himself from the hospital, Graham takes Abigail back to Minnesota, to the hunting lodge. During a hallucination he deduces, correctly, that Abigail was an active participant in her father's murders. Fleeing from Graham, Abigail is comforted by Lecter, who admits to having killed more people than her father. When Abigail asks him if he is going to kill her, he simply tells her that he is sorry he could not protect her.
1313"Savoureux"David SladeSteve Lightfoot and Bryan Fuller & Scott NimerfroJune 20, 2013 (2013-06-20)1131.98[15]
Following his strange trip to Minnesota, Graham is taken into custody by Crawford for the probable murder of Abigail Hobbs. They find her severed ear in his kitchen sink and her blood under his fingernails. Alana is left devastated by the arrest and is determined to find the cause of Graham's dementia, despite Crawford's insistence that there is no underlying cause. She has him draw a clock when he tells her that Dr. Lecter had him perform a similar test, and the results solidify her belief that there is a physical explanation for Graham's instability. Katz, Price and Zeller examine Graham's homemade fishing lures and discover that four of them have included elements of human remains, whose DNA matches all four victims of the copycat killer: Cassie Boyle, Marissa Schur, Dr. Sutcliffe and Georgia Madchen. Graham escapes from custody while being transferred and goes to Lecter for help, only to have Lecter demonstrate that it is feasible for him to have murdered all four people. Graham convinces Lecter to take him back to the Hobbs house in Minnesota, where he finally comes to realize that it was Lecter who called to warn Garrett Jacob Hobbs about his impending arrest and that Lecter has been manipulating him ever since to see how someone with Graham's unique ability would operate. Crawford arrives and stops Graham from killing Lecter by shooting him in the shoulder. Graham is hospitalized, where his encephalitis is finally discovered and he is placed in a protective coma while undergoing treatment. Lecter brings dinner to Du Maurier, where she reveals that she may know much more about him than even he suspected. Next, Lecter pays one last visit to Graham in his new home: the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Production

Development

In September 2011, Gaumont International Television launched as an independent studio in Los Angeles. As part of its launch, the studio announced development on a project named Hannibal, which would cover the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, characters based on Thomas Harris' novels, with Bryan Fuller serving as developer, showrunner and executive producer.[16] In November 2011, NBC acquired the series, with potential of ordering 13 episodes based on the strength of the pilot.[17][18] When questioned about the dark nature of the character, NBC President Robert Greenblatt said, "it's part of the mix. I mean, look at Criminal Minds. That's a pretty dark show. I think it's dark with a bit of a... Well A, it's pre-sold. But it also has a kind of fantastical element to it, you know? It's a little mythic, that character."[19]

In February 2012, NBC officially gave the series a 13-episode series order based on Fuller's script.[20] One month later, David Slade joined as executive producer and to direct the pilot.[21] Fuller commented on working on the series on network television rather than on cable, "doing a cable model on network television gives us the opportunity not to dally in our storytelling because we have a lot of real estate to cover."[22]

Writing

Fuller felt attracted to the concept based on a sentence found in Red Dragon, where Lecter tells Graham "You caught me essentially because you're crazy, too." Hugh Dancy also explained the role of Graham in catching Lecter, "There clearly has to be some movement in that area because I'm playing the world's greatest detector of serial killers, and at a certain point you'd start to wonder how the hell I got the job. But at the same time, Hannibal is not just the most intelligent but, in a sense, the most quick-witted man in the show. He's always that one step ahead."[23]

Fuller stated that the series would explore Lecter's life before his incarceration as depicted in Red Dragon, "the audience knows who Hannibal is so we don't have to overplay his villainy. We get to subvert his legacy and give the audience twists and turns."[22] He also called the series a "love story" between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, "we'll get to the bottom of exactly what that means over the course of the first two seasons. But we're taking our sweet precious time."[22]

The series was envisioned as an exploration of horror. Fuller said, "We're reflecting where people's heads are in a certain way and that's part of the arts' responsibility in its role in society. Entertainment has a very strange and cloudy mirror that it holds up to society."[24]

Regarding the level of graphic violence in the series compared to other series on the air, Fuller explained that the novels and films "have a certain pedigree of crime horror/thriller, in order to be true to that genre, we had to have a certain amount of graphic content to honor the source material, and also honor the expectations of the audience who are approaching the material realizing this is a horror icon. If we didn't have certain ingredients for that dish, then it really wouldn't be that dish."[25] Fuller added that NBC was supportive of the series, recognizing the series' importance in honoring the characters and the source material with the only restrictions being partial nudity.[25] One instance of this happened on the fifth episode, "Coquilles", where the camera showed a naked murdered couple, posed in praying positions with the flesh of their backs opened and strung to the ceiling to give them the appearance of wings. NBC objected to the scene, citing that they "saw their butt cracks." To compensate, Fuller offered to add more blood to the scene and cover the cracks, which NBC accepted.[26]

Casting
Hugh Dancy (left) and Mads Mikkelsen (right) star as the lead characters of the series, Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter.

In March 2012, Hugh Dancy joined the series as Will Graham.[27] Dancy already watched many of the films featuring Hannibal Lecter but was unfamiliar with Will Graham when he read the script. He said he was convinced to take the role after having a talk with Bryan Fuller where he detailed future seasons, "I realized that he had an enormous and expansive imagining of this world and the characters. From that conversation on, I was hooked."[28]

In June 2012, Mads Mikkelsen was announced to play Hannibal Lecter.[29] Mikkelsen viewed Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Lecter "as close as you can come to the devil, to Satan". After meeting with Fuller, he accepted the role, quoting "Hamlet has been played so many times — to perfection — but that shouldn't stop anyone else from doing something else with Hamlet."[30] Mikkelsen described his character, "if you're playing the bad guy, you have to find what you like about them. The character, in this case, is quite elaborate. He's an art collector, he loves the opera. He finds life beautiful, on the threshold of death."[31] In December 2012, Anthony Hopkins was asked about him and he replied with an advice for Mikkelsen, "Play him as totally sane. Play him as ordinary. Don't try to be evil."[32]

In July 2012, Laurence Fishburne joined as Jack Crawford, "the agent-in-charge at the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI who is tasked with tracking down a certain flesh-eating serial killer."[33] The next month, Caroline Dhavernas joined the series as Alana Bloom, "a psychiatric protege of Hannibal Lecter's who teaches psychology at Georgetown University and is consulting with the FBI on criminal profiling when she introduces her mentor to Jack Crawford."[34] Later, Hettienne Park rounded up the main cast as Beverly Katz, "a bright-eyed yet weary crime scene investigator who specializes in working with fibers. She's part of a team of three who piece evidence together."[35]

In August 2012, Aaron Abrams joined the series as Brian Zeller, "one of three crime scene investigators working with the agency."[36] A few days later, Lara Jean Chorostecki joined in the recurring role of Freddie Lounds, who was described as "more sophisticated in her manipulations than her male predecessors, but no less daring, making her a foil for not only Will Graham, but Hannibal Lecter and Jack Crawford, as well."[37] In September 2012, Scott Thompson joined to play Jimmy Price, "the third member of the FBI crime scene investigation team headed by Jack Crawford, the head of the FBI's behavioral science unit. Jimmy specializes in fingerprinting and spatter patterns at crime scenes."[38] In October 2012, Gina Torres joined the series in the recurring role of Bella, Jack Crawford's wife.[39] The next month, Raúl Esparza joined to play Frederick Chilton in a recurring role.[40] The same day, Anna Chlumsky joined to portray Miriam Lass, "a young FBI trainee under the tutelage of Laurence Fishburne's Jack Crawford."[41] In December 2012, Gillian Anderson joined to play an original character, Bedelia Du Maurier, Hannibal Lecter's therapist.[42]

Among guest stars, Chelan Simmons appeared in "Amuse-Bouche" as Gretchen Speck, reprising her role from Fuller's series, Wonderfalls.[43] Molly Shannon guest starred in "Oeuf" as the main antagonist, with her role being kept in secret when it was reported.[44] Ellen Greene, having worked with Fuller on Pushing Daisies, appeared in "Sorbet" as Mrs. Komeda, "a novelist and member of Boston's cultural elite. She's also a pal of the titular cannibal, Dr. Lecter which should protect her from becoming his lunch."[45] Lance Henriksen guest starred in "Trou Normand" as Lawrence Wells, the main antagonist of the episode.[46] Ellen Muth, who worked with Fuller on Dead Like Me, appeared in "Buffet Froid" and "Relevés" as Georgia Madchen.[47]

Filming

The season began filming on August 27, 2012.[48]

Release

Broadcast

A few months after getting the 13-episode series order, NBC was reportedly considering having the show premiere as a mid-season replacement during the 2012–13 United States network television schedule.[49] By January 2013, NBC considered having the series premiere at the end of the season or airing during the summer.[50] In February 2013, NBC confirmed that the series would premiere on April 4, 2013, taking over the Thursday at 10:00 pm timeslot held by the recently cancelled Do No Harm.[51]

On April 29, 2013, KSL-TV, NBC's television station affiliate in Salt Lake City, announced that they would no longer air the series after receiving complaints from viewers, citing the series' "extensive graphic nature."[52]

Episode removal

The fourth episode, "Oeuf", was scheduled to air on April 25, 2013. However, six days before the airing, the episode was pulled from the schedule at the request of Fuller, with the fifth episode, "Coquilles", airing instead. The episode was removed as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which occurred four months prior.[53] As the episode involved children being brainwashed to kill their families, Fuller said "I didn't want to have anyone come to the show and have a negative experience" with the episode. He further added, "it was the associations that came with the subject matter that I felt would inhibit the enjoyment of the overall episode. It was my own sensitivity."[54] NBC later broke the episode into a webisode, with portions of the episode being available to watch on NBC.com.[55] A few months later, the episode was available to watch on iTunes and Amazon Video.[56]

In June 2013, Fuller was asked by Alan Sepinwall about his decision, he replied "in retrospect, it would have been fine to air, but at that time, I feel like that was the informed decision to be cognizant of what was happening in the nation regarding children and violence and particularly gun violence."[57]

Marketing

In October 2012, the first images of the series were revealed.[58] On February 16, 2013, a first poster and trailer for the series was released.[59][60] On March 30, 2013, the cast and crew attended the 2013 WonderCon to promote the series and screen the first two episodes.[61]

Home media release

The season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 2 on September 2, 2013,[62] in region 1 on September 24, 2013,[63] and in region 4 on September 25, 2013.[64]

On June 5, 2020, the season was available for streaming on Netflix.[65] It exited the service on June 4, 2021.[66]

Reception

Viewers
Viewership and ratings per episode of Hannibal
No. Title Air dateRating/share
(18–49)		Viewers
(millions)		DVR
(18–49)		DVR viewers
(millions)		Total
(18–49)		Total viewers
(millions)
1 "Apéritif" April 4, 20131.6/54.36[4]1.12.412.76.77[67]
2 "Amuse-Bouche" April 11, 20131.7/54.38[5]1.12.372.86.74[68]
3 "Potage" April 18, 20131.4/43.51[6]1.02.072.45.58[69]
4 "Oeuf" Unaired——————
5 "Coquilles" April 25, 20131.0/32.40[7]0.91.811.94.20[70]
6 "Entrée" May 2, 20131.1/32.61[8]0.9—2.0[71]—
7 "Sorbet" May 9, 20131.1/32.62[9]0.8—1.9[72]—
8 "Fromage" May 16, 20131.1/52.46[10]1.11.942.14.39[73]
9 "Trou Normand" May 23, 20131.0/32.69[11]0.91.631.94.24[74]
10 "Buffet Froid" May 30, 20131.0/32.40[12]————
11 "Rôti" June 6, 20130.9/32.36[13]————
12 "Relevés" June 13, 20130.7/22.10[14]————
13 "Savoureux" June 20, 20130.8/21.98[15]————

Critical reviews

The season received extremely positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received an approval rating of 82% based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Hannibal caters to an intellectual audience that prefers plenty of gore in its psychological thrillers, with a polished presentation of madness."[75] On Metacritic, the first season scored 70 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, which constitutes "generally favorable reviews".[76]

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the season an "A-" grade, writing "there is something to be said about caring about the internal lives of human beings and taking seriously the issue of how horror — fictional or all to real — impacts the imagination. In fact, Hannibal has been saying something about these murky matters all season long, and often quite artfully. My compliments to the chef."[77] Emily St. James of The A.V. Club wrote, "Hannibal is a great show for other reasons but the thread uniting all of it is this fascination with death. Death is too often facile on television, a thing that happens to a guest character so the regulars can swoop in and save the day. Fuller, however, has been obsessed with death as long as he's been making television, and he's funneled that sensibility into a series that had every reason to be a cheap cash-in and has, instead, turned into one of TV’s best shows."[78]

Critics' top ten lists

The season appeared in many "Best of 2013" lists.[79]

Awards and accolades
Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result
2013 Online Film & Television Association Awards Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series Gillian Anderson Nominated
Best New Theme Song in a Series Nominated
Best New Titles Sequence Nominated
2014 IGN Awards[80] Best TV Actor Hugh Dancy Nominated
Best TV Horror Series Won
Best TV Villain Mads Mikkelsen Nominated
Best TV Series Nominated
Best New TV Series Won
Saturn Awards[81] Best Network Television Series Won[lower-alpha 1]
Best Actor on Television Hugh Dancy Nominated
Mads Mikkelsen Won
Best Guest Star on Television Gina Torres Nominated
  1. Tied with Revolution

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